Obama praises Modi for shaking India’s ‘bureaucratic inertia’

US President Barack Obama today praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to shake up the ‘bureaucratic inertia’ in India, less than a month after he described the Indian leader as a ‘man of action’.

However, Obama said that this was a long-term project and one would have to see how successful Prime Minister Modi is in his efforts.

“Modi has impressed me so far with his willingness to shake up the bureaucratic inertia inside of India. But that is a long-term project and we’ll have to see how successful he is,” Obama told a business roundtable, which was attended by top corporate leaders of the country.

The roundtable was organised to discuss the current economic condition of the US and across the globe.

Last month in Myanmar on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit, Obama in his brief interaction with Modi had told him that he is a ‘man of action’.

On his return from the 10-day trip to the Asia Pacific region that took him to Beijing, Myanmar and Australia, Obama announced that he has accepted an invitation to be the chief guest at the annual Republic Day Parade in New Delhi on January 26 next year.

In his interaction at the business round table, Obama said the US, over the last six years, has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and the rest of the advanced world combined.

The growth of emerging markets have been slower than anticipated, he noted.